This spring Ohio Wesleyan University received a grant of $2 million from the Mellon Foundation for the development of our language programs. Due to an increase interest in non-European languages and current world events, many students at Ohio Wesleyan University wish for the Academic Committee to add Arabic to OWU's language line-up. There has been continued interest in Arabic, so we the Undersigned ask the Committee to take the necessary actions to introduce a new language to our University language curriculum.
Ohio Wesleyan University believes in a Global Education, and that is apparent in the number of languages that the University offers. However, currently many of the languages that we offer do not lead to minors or majors in the languages, and we believe that the University is losing out and hurting its students by not developing and expanding the languages offered in the Modern Foreign Languages Department. In areas such as Comparative Literature, many graduate programs now demand knowledge of a non-western language, preferably in the language of the literature being studied. This puts OWU students enrolled in our Comparative Literature, International Studies, Religions, Classics, and History departments at a disadvantage against those from other universities. In addition, Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese are considered critical languages, all within the top ten spoken languages in the world. The development of these languages at Ohio Wesleyan University will give the University and its students a competitive edge in today's global world. Therefore, we students of Ohio Wesleyan University ask the University to add Arabic Language courses to the Modern Foreign Language department and to continue the development of non-western languages. We ask the university to be a trendsetter instead of a trend follower, allowing OWU students to chart their course in an ever-changing world. And we ask that instead of losing students to schools with Arabic and other languages, to be a leader among liberal arts colleges in the language curriculum offered.
Updates
May 6, 2015
The volume of support has secured a formal meeting with the department chair to discuss the allocation of the Mellon grant. We have drafted a proposal outlining the integration of Arabic courses and will present this to the Academic Committee next week.
15 Comments
a 21st century American University that doesn't offer Arabic as a language (while offering Italian??) is clearly behind the curve.
I think expanding the language department would be awesome. I would love to major in my respective language, but the limitations of faculty make it impossible. Arabic would be a wonderful edition to the MFL department.
I would have minored or double majored in foreign language if Arabic had been an option.
I'm a history major and I find the middle east to be my favorite region to study history. To speak arabic would make going there one day far more possible.
Having Arabic at this school would provide many new opportunities in fields such as foreign relations/ governmental positions and teaching for owu graduates
It's a great opportunity to represent more language families!
add Arabic as a option for a class
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This spring Ohio Wesleyan University received a grant of $2 million from the Mellon Foundation for the development of our language programs. Due to an increase interest in non-European languages and current world events, many students at Ohio Wesleyan University wish for the Academic Committee to add Arabic to OWU's language line-up. There has been continued interest in Arabic, so we the Undersigned ask the Committee to take the necessary actions to introduce a new language to our University language curriculum.
Ohio Wesleyan University believes in a Global Education, and that is apparent in the number of languages that the University offers. However, currently many of the languages that we offer do not lead to minors or majors in the languages, and we believe that the University is losing out and hurting its students by not developing and expanding the languages offered in the Modern Foreign Languages Department. In areas such as Comparative Literature, many graduate programs now demand knowledge of a non-western language, preferably in the language of the literature being studied. This puts OWU students enrolled in our Comparative Literature, International Studies, Religions, Classics, and History departments at a disadvantage against those from other universities. In addition, Arabic, Chinese, and Japanese are considered critical languages, all within the top ten spoken languages in the world. The development of these languages at Ohio Wesleyan University will give the University and its students a competitive edge in today's global world. Therefore, we students of Ohio Wesleyan University ask the University to add Arabic Language courses to the Modern Foreign Language department and to continue the development of non-western languages. We ask the university to be a trendsetter instead of a trend follower, allowing OWU students to chart their course in an ever-changing world. And we ask that instead of losing students to schools with Arabic and other languages, to be a leader among liberal arts colleges in the language curriculum offered.
Updates
May 6, 2015
The volume of support has secured a formal meeting with the department chair to discuss the allocation of the Mellon grant. We have drafted a proposal outlining the integration of Arabic courses and will present this to the Academic Committee next week.
15 Comments
As an International Studies major, learning Arabic would definitely help me. The language is growing, and a significant population speaks it as a native language. Knowing Arabic would be infinitely valuable to students at OWU.
a 21st century American University that doesn't offer Arabic as a language (while offering Italian??) is clearly behind the curve.
I think expanding the language department would be awesome. I would love to major in my respective language, but the limitations of faculty make it impossible. Arabic would be a wonderful edition to the MFL department.
I would have minored or double majored in foreign language if Arabic had been an option.
I'm a history major and I find the middle east to be my favorite region to study history. To speak arabic would make going there one day far more possible.
Having Arabic at this school would provide many new opportunities in fields such as foreign relations/ governmental positions and teaching for owu graduates
It's a great opportunity to represent more language families!
add Arabic as a option for a class
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As an International Studies major, learning Arabic would definitely help me. The language is growing, and a significant population speaks it as a native language. Knowing Arabic would be infinitely valuable to students at OWU.